Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund (APDRF)

What is the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund?

The APDRF is a special fund designed to provide incremental grant resources to developing member countries impacted by a major natural disaster.

What are the priorities?

The APDRF provides quick-disbursing grants to assist ADB developing member countries (DMCs) in meeting immediate expenses to restore life-saving services to affected populations following a declared disaster and in augmenting aid provided by other donors in times of natural crisis.

What kind of activities are eligible for the grant?

Assistance may be granted only once the following emergency conditions have been met:

A natural disaster has occurred in a DMC

A statement of national emergency has been officially declared by the affected DMC

The United Nations humanitarian/resident coordinator (H/RC) has confirmed the scale and implications of the disaster and has indicated a general amount of funding that would be required to assist in alleviating the situation.

Assistance from the APDRF will be provided in the form of a grant in an amount totaling up to $3 million per event. Factors that may influence the size of the grant can be (i) geographical extent of damage; (ii) initial estimate of death, injuries, and displaced persons; (iii) the response capacity of key agencies in the country; and (iv) the date and magnitude of the last disaster that affected the country (thereby taking into account the cumulative effect of disasters on the country’s ability to respond). Each distinct, nationally-declared disaster will be regarded as a separate event and hence be eligible for assistance, irrespective of whether it is issued for the same disaster-affected DMC or in the same calendar year.

Who is eligible to receive the grant?

All ADB DMCs are eligible for grant assistance from the APDRF. Recipients will be central governments that may allocate funds to local governments, government agencies, and other suitable national or international entities, including nongovernmental organizations.